DesJarlais, who opposes abortion rights, largely withdrew from public sight a month ago after news accounts based on his 2001 divorce emerged. His campaign used a heavy rotation of TV ads to link Stewart to President Barack Obama, an unpopular figure in the conservative 4th District.

It’s the second time DesJarlais has overcome explosive allegations stemming from his divorce. During his first campaign in 2010, the Democratic incumbent ran ads based on court records that said DesJarlais repeatedly pulled the trigger of an unloaded gun outside his first wife’s bedroom door and another time held a gun in his mouth for three hours

“It’s been the second election in a row that's been more about, I guess, a 14-year-old divorce than about the issues,” DesJarlais said Tuesday night. “But sometimes I guess that’s the way politics goes.”

“The voters have spoken,” Stewart said in a statement. “I’m proud of the campaign we ran.”

Tennessee voters also chose Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama and elected the GOP’s Bob Corker to another six-year term in the U.S. Senate.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who lost to Rick Santorum in the state's Republican primary in March, had few problems gaining Tennessee’s 11 electoral votes.

With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Romney had 1.4 million votes, or 59 percent, compared with Obama’s 934,835 votes, or 39 percent. Tennessee has voted for the Republican presidential candi date in each election since 2000.

Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor, easily defeated Democrat Mark Clayton, a part-time floor installer who was disavowed by the state party after the primary for his anti-gay views. Corker had 1.46 million votes, or 65 percent, compared with Clayton's 687,100 votes, or 30 percent.

Corker said in his victory speech that he hoped the nation’s focus would quickly turn from elections to the federal budget.

“I really believe that we are one fiscal reform package away from being able to focus on the greatness of this nation.”